Now, nearly everyone knows who Einstein is. When Einstein was
younger, it wasn't obvious that he would go on to become the most
famous scientist ever.

Einstein eventually completed his high school and university
education, but he didn't do well enough at university to get the
teaching job he wanted. Instead, Einstein went to work in a patent
office. Luckily for us, his job was so boring that it gave him lots
of time to think. This is where Einstein developed his most famous
ideas.

Why is Einstein so famous?

Einstein is the father of modern physics. He revolutionised the
way we look at the world. What are his most famous theories?

Theory of Relativity

Einstein showed that Newton was right about most things, but
wrong about how gravity affected very large and very distance
objects. It's actually two theories - Special Relativity and
General Relativity.

Einstein's Theory of Relativity
changed the way we think about space and time

General Relativity says that large objects
cause space to bend in the same way that putting a tennis ball on a
thin sheet would cause the sheet to bend. The larger the object,
the more space bends.

Special Relativity says it's impossible to
determine if you're moving unless you can look at another
object. It also shows that measurements of distance and
time depend on how fast you are travelling. This means that if
someone your age goes into space for ten years and travels millions
of miles, that person will come back looking two years younger than
you!

Einstein managed to do this without seeing an atom. Instead, he
looked at pollen grains in water and realised that something
smaller than pollen was making the pollen grains move around.

With those three theories, Einstein changed the way we think
about space, time and matter. Not bad for someone who was expelled
from school and couldn't get the job he wanted!

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Curriculum information

Summary

Although he did not get his Nobel prize for it, Einstein is most famous for his theory of Relativity. Find out about gravity, relativity and Einstein's quantum description of light (for which he was awarded the Nobel prize).